"Your turn."

They'd just reached the next dungeon on their route - a basic Destruction one - and Levi smiled at Gordon's look of uncertainty.

"You said you wanted to face adversity, right? What better way than to take the lead in this next battle?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready for that much adversity."

"Got to start somewhere, and you're not allowed to back down. Time to make good on that promise.”

Gordon pressed his lips tight together, inhaled deeply, and reluctantly nodded.

“Good.”

Gordon gestured to the bodies still held onto Pierce's back. "What should we do with them?" They had hours left before they could revive anyone more, so their combat power was limited.

Well. 'Limited'. When you figured Pierce into the reckoning, anything a level 1 or 2 dungeon could throw at them would be pretty meager.

"We should be safe to leave them outside. As long as they're official minions they won't disappear on us. Whatever tether keeps them connected also maintains their integrity."

Pierce shrugged them off, stepping away with his many many legs, the section near raised so he didn't step on anyone.

Levi hung back, waiting. Gordon hesitated, but finally waved to Flomper - who sat atop Pierce's head - and Levi's surviving minions to follow him into the dungeon.

Levi let Skarm lead the way, Two strutting along beside him. He seemed to be taking Skarm's being limited to walking as a personal victory, though Levi could tell that their relationship had moved past any true animosity and was more of a respectful rivalry at this point.

Not to say Two wouldn't gleefully snatch any opportunity to level faster than Skarm, and vice versa, but at least they weren't going to actually come to blows any time soon.

The first room was as laughably simple to clear as when they'd first brought Becca on. Pierce simply circled the room, stabbing any gremlin that dared poke its head out, and they very quickly expired when impaled by a foot-long centipede claw-leg. Drok hung back to give the new centipede time to gain experience.

The next rooms were no harder. As they moved onward through the dungeon, Gordon gradually grew more confident. He began venturing out in advance. With Pierce to back him up, he started taking a more aggressive stand, firing his manabow or slashing at the adversaries.

Levi stepped in when it became clear he was planning to practice, adjusting his stance and demonstrating how to swing properly. It would be a slow process overall, he didn't expect to make Gordon a master swordsman in a day, but every step forward counted.

By the end of the dungeon, Gordon was standing with considerably more confidence. He'd still overreached and almost died against the boss - a goblin with a curved sword that turned out to be a decent fighter - but Pierce and Drok had intervened in time to save him.

"I do see what you mean about having backup in a dungeon," Gordon said, as they retrieved their deceased minions and loaded Pierce back up for the trip to the next dungeon. "In the heat of the moment it's hard to really know if it's safe or not."

"It's never safe. Never, ever, ever. If I got complacent, a gremlin could kill me."

"No," Gordon said, laughing. "That wouldn't happen."

Levi gestured to Skarm. "When we first met, he almost killed me. True story."

Skarm nodded and puffed out his chest proudly.

Gordon was already shaking his head. "You and your minions have the weirdest relationships."

"They could be a whole lot weirder."

Gordon helped shift Maggie's coils more securely onto Pierce's back, then nodded in satisfaction at their posse. "Ready to do this again?"

Levi smiled. "Lead on."

The next dungeon was further away than usual, taking over an hour and a half to reach even at a steady run. Average dungeon distances were all well and good, but there were always outliers. It wasn't a perfect net around the planet with precisely equidistant spacing, but an organic scattering that usually fell within predictable ranges.

This dungeon was a Fire type, but only level 1. Levi didn't bother with trying to tame any of the snakes that occupied it, but the boss was another matter.

They entered the boss room to find a waist-high kobold, lizardy skin mottled with blacks and deep purples, glowing white circles embossed down both arms, some overlapping, others connected by looping coils that wound around the arm like decorative armbands. It stood leaning forward on a staff held in its left hand, the top gleaming with red fire.

Gordon took one look at Levi's expression and chuckled. "I'm guessing you want it?"

"I want it." Levi didn't have much in the way of ranged attackers. Elmire had been traded away, Maggie was dead at the moment, and Slayer was with Peter.

A kobold fire magus? That would fit the bill very nicely.

"No objections here."

The battle began, but as usual with Pierce and Drok in the mix, the kobold didn't stand a chance. Boss it may be, but it was still only a mage, and Drok was built for pure damage output.

Gordon's dismays brought its resistance down, Levi's tame brought it in only on the fifth try, but this time there was no desperate countdown and the extra time spent didn't trouble them in the least.

"This feels unfair. We're way too strong for these guys to stand a chance."

"Don't feel too bad. Remember that they'd kill you in an instant if they had a chance, and in another month once these places are higher level they'll outlevel us just as badly."

Level 1 Kobold Magus +

Strength: 0

Health: 30/30

(+1/min)

Psyche: 1

Mana: 130/130

(+2/min)

Spirit: 0

Stamina: 70/70

(+1/min)

"Well, no wonder it was such an easy fight!" Thirty health, for a boss? Perhaps its magic would make up for it, but so far he wasn't very impressed.

Strength: +10 Health, +1 H-Regen Psyche: +30 Mana, +1 M-Regen Spirit: +30 Stamina, +1 S-Regen

The Frires were about as professional as... well, they made Charles look reasonable and well-organized, but no one could deny they got the job done. They'd lost two members since the last time Laurence had seen them around, but their rival guild was looking all the better for the loss. None of them was below level 5, and two were level 9.

None had breached level 10. That did give him hope - perhaps the level curve was steep enough that Laurence was actually ahead of it, despite losing his early levels. Power leveling with Levi's minions really had given him an unfair advantage over everyone else.

Frire Duck - yes, that was what his nametag officially said - stepped forward with his arms crossed. "Well? You begged us to put together a meeting. What's it about?"

"I need help organizing a raid against my former guild leader, Charles. He stole a lot of valuables from our guild, and I want to steal them back."

"So what's in it for us?"

"Half of whatever items we recover," Laurence answered at once.

Frire Duck narrowed his eyes. "You sound desperate. That's a big red flag."

"I just came from my guild, they've refused to help me, so... yes. I'm a bit desperate."

"Why? Why does it matter so much to you?"

"Aside from the fact that he stole from me?" Laurence shrugged . "I never liked the bastard anyway. His betrayal only proved how much of an ass he is."

"Still not telling me why this should be my problem. Why should I get my people involved in what sounds like an internal affair?"

"Half his stolen goods aren't payment enough?"

"And what value does that carry? We have only your word that it's worth anything at all. For all we know, you'll pawn off a meager stash of stupid coins and call it payment."

"There's one that's not ours, already sold to another buyer, but apart from that you can have first pick, up to one-quarter of the total."

"And we have only your word that any of it is valuable."

"What do you want, then?" Laurence struggled to fight down rising frustration. He'd been foiled at every turn so far. "If you won't help for treasures, then what would you accept?"

"We want your dungeon."

Laurence froze. Technically, he didn't speak for the Doom Raiders, and couldn't possibly agree to something like that. But... with his new knowledge, he could find a new dungeon easily enough. Mana Ping indicated that there were a dozen dungeons within driving distance.

Sure, it would be inconvenient, but his guild could handle a bit of inconvenience.

"Once a week."

"Four days. Our choice."

"Your choice? No way. Two days, and one has to be a non-weekend."

"Four, but you can keep one weekend day. I'll decide which one on a weekly basis."

"Three, and two weekdays, but you can choose the specifics."

"Three, then. And we get full first pick on the treasures."

"Woah, no, you don't get major dungeon access and the best of our treasury."

Frire Duck looked up and down the row of his guildmates, all of whom were nodding or looking grim. "Those are our terms."

Laurence took a steadying breath. He was already overstepping big time, but... even if he didn’t have the authority to make such an agreement, its ultimate outcome would benefit their guild in the long term.

Time was running out, even if no one else knew it.

"Fine. Deal."